This invention relates generally to computer communications and control, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for interfacing to and controlling a computer network with a facsimile machine. 2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a collection of interconnected computers and computer networks that communicate and share services with each other. The Internet began more than 20 years ago with the U.S. Defense Department""s ARPAnet. At the same time that ARPAnet was maturing (it subsequently ceased to exist), similar networks were developed to link universities, research facilities, businesses, and individuals around the world. These networks included BITNET, CSNET, FIDONET, and USENET. Eventually, each of these networks were themselves linked together, allowing users of any computer linked to any one of the networks to transmit communications to computer users on other networks. It is this series of linked networks that is today commonly known as the Internet.
The most common methods of communications on the Internet can be roughly grouped into six categories: (1) one-to-one messaging (such as xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d), (2) one-to-many messaging (such as xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9clistservxe2x80x9d), (3) distributed message databases (such as xe2x80x9cUSENET newsgroupsxe2x80x9d), (4) real time communication (such as xe2x80x9cInternet Relay Chatxe2x80x9d), (5) real time remote computer utilization (such as xe2x80x9ctelnetxe2x80x9d), and (6) remote information retrieval (such as xe2x80x9cftp,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cgopher,xe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9cWorld Wide Webxe2x80x9d).
Electronic mail, or xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d, allows a user to create a message and send it to one or more people. The message is not limited to text, but can contain data, computer programs, audio, images, and even video.
The Internet also contains automatic mailing list services (such as xe2x80x9clistservsxe2x80x9d which is short for list server) that allow a group of people to communicate about particular subjects of interest. A listserv subscriber can submit messages on a particular topic to the listserv. The listserv forwards the message (via e-mail) to anyone who has subscribed to the mailing list. A recipient of such a message can reply to the message and have the reply also distributed to everyone on the mailing list.
Similar in function to listservsxe2x80x94but quite different in how communications are transmittedxe2x80x94are distributed message databases such as xe2x80x9cUSENET newsgroups.xe2x80x9d Because the messages are shared in a database, users need not subscribe to the discussion mailing list in advance, but can instead access the database at any time.
In addition to transmitting messages that can be later read or accessed, Internet users can engage in xe2x80x9creal timexe2x80x9d dialog with other people on the Internet. In its simplest forms, xe2x80x9cInternet Relay Chatxe2x80x9d (or IRC) allows two or more users to type messages to each other that almost immediately appear on the others"" computer screens.
The Internet can also be used to access and remotely control computers using xe2x80x9ctelnet.xe2x80x9d Telnet allows a user to enter commands on one computer and have them executed on a remotely connected computer. For example, using telnet, a researcher at a university would be able to use the computing power of a supercomputer located at a different university, while a student can use telnet to connect to a remote library to access the library""s on-line card catalog program.
The final major category of communication, and perhaps the most well known use of the Internet, is remote information search and retrieval. Today, three methods are primarily used to locate and retrieve information on the Internet. The first, xe2x80x9cftpxe2x80x9d (or file transfer protocol) allows a user to list files available on a remote computer and to transfer one or more of those files to the individual""s local computer. The second approach uses a text based display format called xe2x80x9cgopherxe2x80x9d to guide an individual""s search through the resources available on a remote computer. The third approach, and fast becoming the most well known, is the xe2x80x9cWorld Wide Webxe2x80x9d (the xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d).
The Web links information on various computers by using a common set of protocols and defined conventions for storing and transferring information. One of the most common information storage formats is hypertext markup language (HTML). HTML documents are transferred between computers using hypertext transport language (HTTP).
Although the information itself may be in many different formats and stored on computers which are not otherwise compatible, a basic set of standards exist that allow communication and exchange of information between differing computers. Several programs allow users to xe2x80x9cbrowsexe2x80x9d the web by displaying HTML documents. Mosaic, Cello, and Netscape are a few of the more popular browsers widely used to navigate the Internet. Each of these programs translates and formats the HTML document before displaying it to the user.
Although HTML documents contain only textual information, most documents contain one or more unique addresses, called a Uniform Resource Locator or URL. Each URL is comprised of a filename and filepath that refers to an electronic document that can contain text, images, sound, animation, moving video, and even computer programs.
Embedding URLs in an HTML document allows that document to link (each link is typically referred to as a hyperlink) to other Internet documents or resources. Thus, a hyperlink allows the referenced document to be automatically retrieved and displayed, regardless of where it is stored. In some instances, the document will cause the browser to retrieve the linked data automatically. In other instances, the user will be given the option of retrieving the information.
Many browsers use a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to select the hyperlink, (i.e. retrieve the document) with a mouse. For example, a user viewing an HTML document (often called a xe2x80x9cweb pagexe2x80x9d), on a computer screen can use a mouse to xe2x80x9cclickxe2x80x9d on a resource description and be immediately connected to or retrieve the resource itself.
Hyperlinks are displayed on a GUI in numerous ways. Most browsers display hyperlinks as blue or underlined text. In many cases, the actual URL is not displayed on the GUI. Instead, a more descriptive title, called a hypertext reference, is displayed.
In other situations, the hypertext reference is an image rather than text. This type of hypertext reference is often referred to as an image map. A user can retrieve different documents from an image map, depending on location of the mouse click on the image map. In this situation, the browser typically transmits the screen coordinates of the mouse click to the server hosting the image map. The server then matches the mouse click coordinates to a specific document that is then transmitted to the user.
Many organizations and computer users have xe2x80x9chome pagesxe2x80x9d on the Web. These are documents which provide a set of links that guide the user directly or indirectly to information about or relevant to that organization. Most browsers are configurable to immediately retrieve a home page of the user""s choice upon startup.
Many browsers also provide control functions that allow the user to customize the browser to fit the particular user""s tastes. Perhaps one of the most frequently used functions is storing a particular link in a list of frequently used links.
A variety of systems have been developed that allow Web users to search for specific information contained on the web. Services such as Yahoo, Magellan, Altavista, Webcrawler, and Lycos are all services known as xe2x80x9csearch enginesxe2x80x9d which allow users to search for Web sites containing certain categories of information, or to search for key words. For example, a Web user looking for information would type key words into a search engine and then be presented with a list of web sites containing those key words. This resulting list is actually a series of hyperlinks to those sites. The user could then follow individual links, browsing through the information on each site, until the desired material is found.
Two common methods are used to accesses the Internet. The first, host access, refers to a computer or computer network that is directly connected to the Internet. The second, terminal access, allows a user having a personal computer with a modem to connect to a larger computer or computer network, commonly referred to as a server, that is itself directly or indirectly connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, both types of Internet access require a computer. Thus, those that do not have the requisite network connections, computer equipment or skills are unable to access the vast wealth of information contained on the Internet.
Businesses are continuing to deliver product information and services via the Internet. Unfortunately, penetration for these types of services is limited by the number of people having Internet access. Although the number of people having Internet access continues to grow every year, a significant portion of the population does not have Internet access.
Some attempts have been made to provide Internet access for those that do not have a computer or the requisite skills. Currently, two products allow limited Internet access to and from a fax machine. One product faxes a web page based on a user""s telephone touch tone input of a URL. Another product preprocess web pages by adding identifying numbers next to each hypcrlink on the web page. To access a document, the user must call a phone number and then enter a user identification and the particular identifying number that corresponds to the hyperlink he or she wants to access. Unfortunately, both of these solutions are rather cumbersome and difficult to use.
The present invention discloses a fax/Internet-server that allows information to be exchanged between a fax machine and one or more computers. The fax/Internet-server comprises a fax interface for sending and receiving faxes and a network interface for communicating with and retrieving electronic documents from a computer. The fax/Internet-server further includes a memory for storing the electronic documents received from the computer network and the faxed pages received from the fax machine. The fax/Internet server also includes a controller that compares the stored electronic documents to the received faxed pages, to identify user marks on the received fax. Various actions will be performed, depending on the user marks. A method is also disclosed for using the apparatus to retrieve various electronic documents from the computer network in response to received faxes.